Race Recap and Week 1 Training

Last weekend, I competed in the Go St. Louis 1/2 Marathon which in short, was a disaster. My training cycle for this race was somewhat abbreviated, because I had focused most of my attention on speedwork for a mid-March race, but got in some decent runs over the last 5 weeks to think I was ready to run a sub 1:30 race. Normally, I would provide a detailed race summary, but there isn't much to report. We were running late in the morning, and literally started last of the 11,000+ runners which was a huge disadvantage considering the pouring rain and not so wide streets of St. Louis. We hit a mob of runners shortly after the start, and pretty much ducked and weaved through the crowds the entire race. By the 4th mile, my legs were cooked from running so much laterally, and made an executive decision to slow it down since I knew the course was only going to get worse, not to mention I was almost running on fumes already. I cruised through the rest of the race at a somewhat comfortable 7:20/mile clip and was feeling pretty sorry for myself but my competitive spirit picked up the last mile and outkicked a ton of runners down the stretch. I finished about 4 minutes slower than last year's time, so was overall pretty disappointed. Congrats to Crystal for finishing 2nd in her age group and winning a beautiful plaque!

Strong finish

Fake smiles


RESULTS
Peter Kim M29
Clock Time 1:46:55
Chip Time 1:34:29
Overall Place 146 / 8543
Gender Place 124 / 3305
Division Place 32 / 597
10 Mi 1:12:34

After the race, Crystal and I decided to take the next week pretty easy, which worked out perfectly because both of us came down with some pretty nasty sinus infections/colds - needless to say it was a rough week! The weather finally got decent, and I ran a few late evening runs last week to hit 15 miles, the lowest mileage I have had in over 3 years. Regardless, the break was well-deserved, and I feel somewhat rested to begin the first of two training cycles in preparation for Chicago.

The next 12 weeks is pretty much a scheduled maintenance period, derived from an advanced Hal Higdon plan. In our training the last few months, Crystal and I have hit long runs up to 16 miles, so we decided to focus more on keeping up 35-40 mile weeks and work on speed/turnover during this time. The 2nd 12 week cycle will be geared more towards traditional marathon training. Last year, we did the Hal Higdon Advanced 1 - 18 week program - while it worked, it was mentally and physically grueling, and we may have peaked too early as evidenced by our mediocre marathon times, so we purposedly shortened the cycle.

So Week 1 begins today, 4-5 mile easy run. 80% chance of rain and thunderstorms, not the most ideal way to start this training plan...